improbable journey for more than two centuries. it's that spirit that carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last four years. in 2008 we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. today our businesses have this morning, politicians, created nearly 5.5 million new hair hold and all that fancy jobs. the american auto industry is dancing. this week in voter suppression, back on top. the naming names edition. [ applause ] >> home values are on the rise. the defining moments of the 2012 we're less dependent on foreign campaign. first, my question, is it harder oil than at any time in 20 to re-elect a black president years. because the service and than it was to-elect him in the first place? sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, a whole lot from here in new hampshire, the war in iraq is over. the war in afghanistan is coming to a close. al qaeda is on the run. good morning. osama bin laden is dead. i'm melissa harris-perry. we've made real progress. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. i'm coming to you from our [ applause ] >> that is president obama studio on democracy plaza at campaigning today along with former president bill clinton in rockefeller center here in new york city. new hampshire. let me bring my panel back in let's begin today by going back for a moment. we're joined by karen finney, exactly four years, back to

november 4, 2008. it's the day when a multiracial columnist for the hill and former dnc communications coalition of american voters, director. she's joining us along with the including those living in states rest of our panel from earlier. that were once part of the confederacy elected this cornell belcher and katon dawson nation's first black president. it was historic. to paraphrase a vice president and still scot ross from joe biden sentiment, it was a wisconsin. let's talk about the president big deal. talking about sandy and laying john mccain had this to say out his big domestic about the outcome. accomplishment. >> also talking about. >> a century ago, president when the president talks about three dore roosevelt's an america for everybody, that's a vision that a lot of different invitation of booker t parts of this country can see themselves in. washington to dine at the white women, veterans, house was taken as an outrage in african-american, immigrant, latino, asian. that's part of the strength of many corridors. his message. america today is a world away the thing that's been so from the cruel and prideful beautiful to me is as tragic as bigotry of that time. sandy was, it's meant the there is no better evidence of president has come back to an this than the election of an essential thing. not just his campaign, not just african-american to the presidency of the united states. of his presidency but of his >> senator mccain was right. life's work which is we're in that at no other time in this together. how do we make sure -- i read american history could this moment have been possible.

and even as the opponent, he was something he was saying. everybody has to have a fair a bit swept up in that moment. shot. the point being, we're able o come back to that mess a.m. remember the front page of the i think that's so important. new york times after the i also think it is part of election, obama, racial barrier what -- if you're one of those vote who are have not made up falls in decisive victory. your mind and you're hearing the victory was decisive, but that, you've got to be thinking, the barrier had not fallen. you mow what, yeah, that's what then senator obama was simply i want. hoisted over it, propelled by i want that optimistic pfuture decades of civil rights where everybody has a chance. demonstrations. hard won legislative victories, he's not evil. educational opportunities and >> there's something about sort shifting racial boundaries. of how the disaster can refocus but senator mccain, "the new us on our collective york times" and frankly many responsibilities. pundits writing in the heady i worry a little bit that sandy moments of the victory failed to may create complications for articulate how firmly the folks in terms of voting. barriers remained intabt. we're going to stay on the issue the win was a culmination, not of this week in voter suppression. we're going to go back to the single definitive, most wisconsin and bring the whole table in as soon as we get bab. sought after culmination, but a i want everyone to stick around. culmination of racial struggles. when we come back, i'm going to but it was not the initiation of focus on the latest suppression a new era. as if to prove the point, the efforts in ohio and the person who really is just driving me racialized attacks on president obama were swift and hardly crazy this election cycle when we come back. subtle.

the most obvious being the unrelenting demands for the president to prove his citizenship to a well-organized fringe of radical birthers, the election of a black president doesn't tell us much about the structural barriers that continue to face the vast majority of black citizens. it doesn't tell us much about the narrow arena of electoral arena for black candidates. maybe you've noticed there's not one african-american in the humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, united states senate. we're called 2008 with an open seat race. we still run into problems. unpopular wars, a crushing -- a namely, other humans. nation that was crashing in terms of the economy and which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, exhausted the with the incumbent auto policies come with new car replacement george w. bush opened the door and accident forgiveness if you qualify. wide for a democrat to win. throughout american history, race has been a disqualifier see what else comes standard even if favorable, political at libertymutual.com. circumstances. liberty mutual insurance. not in 2008. overall, american voters did responsibility. what's your policy? not -- this is meaningful if imperfect progress. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, in three days, we'll learn if america's first black president will be re-elected. fortunately we've got ink. the conditions are very

different this time around. he is the incumbent, the economy is still limping and it may be it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, harder generally to win reelection of our previous 42 plus at office supply stores. presidents. only 16 were elected to two rewards we put right back into our business. terms. if america doesn't choose this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do president obama again, it is not and ink helps us do it. an automatic indictment of our make your mark with ink from chase. racial progress. if he wins, we can't smugly congratulate ourselves on our to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. racial pro dpres. this is an election, not a group ♪ with a low national plan premium... therapy session. no matter the outcome on ♪ tuesday, when we wake on wednesday morning, our country ...and copays as low as one dollar... will be a place where being born ♪ black is a tremendous ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. disadvantage compared with being born white. ♪ on wednesday we still have to grapple with ending overt so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. racism, discrimination and call humana at 1-800-808-4003. persistent inequality. as citizens in a democracy, web or go to walmart.com for details. choose -- we can make new choices. it's worth asking what the choices we're making this week tell us about who we are. at the table being victoria dee

francesca soto and fellow at the university -- cornell belcher. pollster for obama 2012. barbara arn wine, the lawyers committee for civil rights on the law. and katon dawson, former chair of the south carolina gop. >> thank you for joining me. >> thank you. cornell, i want to start with a fairly recent study that was taking a look at sort of what's happened between 2008 and 2012 in terms of attitudes towards african-americans. it was roeported that racial bis has risen a bit over the course of the four years where americans are asked expressly about black attitudes. we have 51% of americans expressing anti-black attitudement whereas in 2008, there were only 48%. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. particularly looking at implicit measures, the things we're not this is hayden. he's five years that's elizabeth. aware of. we see 56% of americans with the and that's skyler... and his mom, nancy. anti-black attitudes and only they're just a few of the californians who took it on themselves to send you a message

49% in 2008. about what they need to restore years of cuts to their schools. what does that tell you in. >> actually, i look at that prop thirty-eight. number and think the glass is half full. >> yeah. thirty-eight raises billions in new revenue - bypasses sacramento absolutely. >> but it also talks and hurdles and sends every k through 12 dollar straight to our local schools... any sort of minority, if you're running for office, you enter every school. the conversation with for them. for all of us. stereotypical baggage or baggage vote yes on thirty-eight. that comes along with you. same thing with women running for office as well. successful politicians have to be able to navigate that and be individual ated. i said before, a black can't become president of the united states. however an exceptional individual who happens to be black, he can. when you see barack obama, you're looking at democracy plaza, the site of nbc news's he's -- jordan wasn't black anymore. 2012 election coverage. he was jordan. we are talking about the when they see the individual and election in a very particular they don't see the racial way this morning. baggage, i think they have an our final this week in voter opportunity to become president or anything they want. >> i want to be clear. suppression before the election we're talking about a social on tuesday. construction of race where part we're pulling cards and naming names today. this next person has had his wig of what's happened clearly over those four years, where you see snatched so many times in that increase in bias, to me, at nerdland that he ought to be

bald by now. least part of that victoria is we're going to find a few more very much about a strategy, an effort to reascribe the hairs to pluck because nerdland, your favorite voter suppresser, stereotypes of blackness to ohio secretary of state john president obama. part of what happened in '08 was huston is at it again. in an 11th hour voter he was able to as was suggested, suppression hail mary, changed individual wait and part of the the rules again. to make it harder for ohio ans strategy has opinion to say no, he's part of the welfare state, to vote. food stamps. on friday, he issued a last these things that are the minute directive that could negative stereotypes and place result in provisional ballots them on the president. going uncounted in the election's most highly contested swing state. the directive makes voters who >> it's the religious one, the submit a provisional ballot muslim -- a new poll came out, a responsible for correctly writing out an affirmation bunch of researchers looking at document. the form of i.d. they've the message. provided to official. we've seen a slight uptick of if a voter makes a mistake, this. what we're seeing and what is their entire ballot gets thrown really curious that 70% of the public end would not vote for a out. ain't that some ish. i'm a little -- he is on my last muslim. over 50% of the republicans nerve. it should not be that on the

sunday before the election that believe that obama is muslim. >> it's not a straight anti-black. there is actual new braeaking it's i think he is a foreigner and this foreigner with this news. >> it's disgusting. also on the last sunday before problematic identity. it moves together. the election where he said it >> interestingly enough, we was impossible to have early don't see this effect among voting. every single reasonable idea, democrats. we do see a significant effect every single reasonable request, among independents. he's got some reason why and this is problematic for the he's got a boy scout looking president. face. gee, i don't know what to do to because americans don't like atheists and right after that is muslim. the silver lining, melissa, is make it easieeasier. >> as americans, we should make it easier for everyone he to we're seeing less antipathy vote. in america, people and fought towards mormons. for the right to vote. that's coming down. don't make it difficult. make it easier. i think there's some good news >> cornell, part of the problem and bad news. >> barbara, let me ask you a as democrats, one of the things little bit. i like cornell's point. we need to do after this election is reframe the whole this is a half full story. if we go all the way back as conversation. we took the bait on voter i.d. it's not about i.d. it's about protecting the right senator john mccain did, my to vote. we need to stay focused on the favorite mccain moment was his constitution and the right and how do we make that happen concession speech, it was big of him to encapsulate history. instead of the shiny object much part of what he does, remind us i.d. laws or the shiny object of

there was a time you couldn't be all these barriers that the invited to the white house as an republicans are so good at throwing in our way. >> scott, i want to go to you in african-american without causing a backlash. wisconsin on this point. it feels like part of what's there's a way with progress but happened in your uncovering of we want to talk about there's the bradley foundation is you're room to go. >> absolutely. demonstrating a think tank behind this. there's at failure after the karen is making the point we 2008 election to really analyze can't just take the bait on one what happened in the vote. small issue. people did not realize that in we have to think big. what kind of response do, again, several states, especially in the south, president obama not in a nonpartisan way, people who care about making voting received less than 20%, less than 15%, about 10% in some easy and more accessible. cases of the white vote. how do you respond pack to this much organization and money in. so there was always an issue. >> one of the things we're doing but people, because we were and i can say it here. looking at the nation as a we have a new website we whole, missed what was going on. watched, bradley watch.org where we're going to do a continuing it's important for us to be accountability project on the racially honest and very clear money badger. about what is happening in the mike grebe. public. >> barbara, that's an important who is funding the voter point. suppression efforts. as we think about black voters i want to point out, this is a or white voters. republican effort. which what happened in the we know that tonight in discourse, the reelection, what milwaukee, there is a big giant will this group do and that group do. as part of media, we have republican gathering going ond and at the same time, true the perpetuated that. vote will be doing some sort of

this point about the intersection of geography poll watching training. this is all -- this is tied to strikes me as extremely important. one side. katon, as a southerner, you and it is an attempt to suppress the vote. i are both southerners, it feels the good news is, again, we're like there's a residual sort of going to stop this. confederate almost narrative. people are mobilized ready to even at the same time that know ha their rights to vote are. people are in place at 866-r louisiana and south carolina have nonwhite governors. vote if people have problems. >> we have one of the two republican black republican transparency illuminates the congressman. tim scott. pathway to accountability. we're going to o do that with bradley watch.org and call these he was elected out of the first district in south carolina where people out. the civil war was started. i congratulate you for doing the ran about eight white candidate. same on our show. >> i'm going to get a t-shirt overwhelmingly won a republican that says that, scott. primary and is cops tiff but a i love that. one of the things, barbara, i star in the republican party. nick i hail i will -- we have want to turn to you. sometimes suppressive efforts are not as clear as we've seen with the voter i.d. nikki haley. i think victoria brought up the we know that in florida the lines have been excruciatingly biggest number and the danger long. in miami-dade, early voting did for political parties. independents. that's the number that's not end until 1:00 in the morning. so i have in my hand the growing. people are disaffected with both miami-dade county election's parties. the far right, the liberals and department official sample the independent number is ballot. you really, like this thing --

growing rapidly. and that's what this election this isn't four or five of them. boiled down to about sibs weeks this is the ballot. ago. >> as we go to break, we'll stay you and i were looking at it on on this topic. the break. part of it is how we are i have a ph.d. and i find this experiencing. some of it is the numbers. difficult to manage. some is how we experience it. no wonder the lines are that long. even a ballot like this is some of the reasons we see the lines for early voting is the sense is among many voters of suppressive. >> absolutely. color is that this has been a what we have been trying to do as the state budget cuts that racialized four years. stay with us. i know sometimes it can be hard happened, what the states have been doing instead of increasing talking about race. when we come back, i'm going to the funding to make sure the try to break down and keep on voters can participate in an this topic. have some tea. electorate. it will be all right. they're cutting back on these look how small they were! things. mailing a sample balance lout out to every voter, making sure [ husband ] transfer! [ male announcer ] free data transfer at home. people have assets to -- none of you just deleted all the photos! that. you did! there's been less. no you did! >> right. [ male announcer ] or free data transfer you get -- this is the first when you buy a windows 8 computer at staples. time you've seen them. >> had no idea. another way staples makes it easier to upgrade. it's going to look like this. it's very important for voters, we keep telling voters to be vips, verify your registration, be at the correct place: but it's also important for voters

to take a few more steps. i could not me more prouder of the american voter than this year. people have been standing approximate line seven hours they call us. i am so angry at the voter officials, elected officials who have not processed registrations yet. and we are in the process of looking. these are the kind of things things that's real. we have so much going on. i'm glad they're calling that hotline. we've had over 30,000-plus calls. people are telling us about problems. been able to go into the jurisdictions and clean them up. do what has to be done. in light of sandy, sandy teaches us two things. one is that we got to -- early voting is powerful. if new jersey and new york had had early voting, what a difference this would be. >> that's no possibility new york is going red, is it? >> also, it teaches us what the

reforms are that are still needed. but it also teaches us that when we are in a crisis, we find ways to do things we couldn't do normally. all of a sudden, you can e-mail vote if you're a displaced person in new jersey. hello? >> exactly. the technology is -- i promise katon i'll tet let you in. i have to let scot go in wisconsin and take a commercial break. thank you for not only joining us today but thank you for the kind of real reporting that you have done to connect these dots. i greatly, greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. >> it is gameday. it is a coming for the poll watching groups like true the vote. we think there might be an agenda a little different. that's next. ♪

[ crowd cheering ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ democracy plaza. this is where nbc 2012 election coverage will happen. i'm melissa harris-perry.

we're coming to you from that beautiful location here at rockefeller center. now, when a candidate crafts an election strategy, he or she looks at the electorate and tries to create simplified mod tolls figure out how to create a winning coalition. capturing white voters remains a challenge. they're not the same. on the issue of the race, there's a spectrum. you have some who will never, ever going to cast a vote for a candidate of color. we call them naked racist voters. thankfully, they're very few. if you're a black candidate you don't have to convince them. nothing you do will ever convince them. fine. on the opposite end of the spectrum are white voters who are beside themselves with joy about being able to be part of a multiracial coalition mobilized for a candidate of color. for them it feels less like a campaign and more like a movement. don't have to worry about them either, they're coming along. the issue is the vast majority of white voters who fall in the other category. those are the folks that will

likely vote for a member of their party, they're open to voting for a person of color and need to be convinced why to vote for that candidate. they made hold racial biases, but they're not decisive. the size and enthusiasm of that group matters a lot to candidates of color. in 2008, president obama convinced and captured enough of the votes. that group becomes vitally important and we'll see whether or not president obama has clearly convinced them why they should vote for him again. cornell, i want to ask you approximate this. we don't know a lot about re-electing a black executive. we have massachusetts, and a bunch of black mayors, there's political research saying that black mayors get a higher percentage of the vote from whites than when they run for reelection. the data looks like president obama has lost support among white voters. >> let's understand this. you know this well. the number, that's not that

different from what any democrat has been getting. >> it's better than the white the last name we want to leave democrats who run before him. you with is katherinening he so democrats ever since lbj will brekt and her true the vote. signed, he said there goes the they're planning to dispatch one million observers to watch the south. he could have really said, there polls on election day. we dispatched one nerd from goes a lart swge swath of the w nerdland to true the vote to get a little training. vote. when i look at ohio and wisconsin and new hampshire and and we're pretty convinced that the real intention of true the iowa, you know, you look at some vote or at least one much them of the white working class is not just to create chaos. voters, president is ahead in but to actually tie up the those states. not because he's doing poorly election in the courts. so our nerd came back from true among whites but because of the message about economics and about progressive economics, the vote training and these are reaching those white voters, just some of the images that we're making a lot of pro dpres. were part of true the vote on the -- was a client of mine. training. this one is the one that just drives me nuts. you see the challenger, the true what you saw in his first race the voter looks like she's probably ethnic or african-american. was a race that was polarized she's challenging a man in a dress, right, who is apparently racially. we struggled to get white votes. someone who is this with the wrong identity. now he's a darling of atlanta. it's kind of like trans phobia

i think it will be easier in the and racial angst all together in one big piece. reelection. >> looking at the study, are we what they're told in the training is to watch the voters controlling for one of the present proper i.d., check greatest recessions we've seen address and i.d. against the in history. with the mayoral race there poll book. might be a slow economic does the voter still live at tha downturn, but it's nothing like the address. what we've seen. what's happening is that people remember, these are not election maybe had implicit racial officials. this is a nerd from nerdland being trained to do this. antipathies hang their hat on you get the common sense tips. that because of the economy and it's magnified. ask to see the vote total before you leave. ask the supervisor what it still feels to me, on the happened. again, our nerd came back one handy agree that we're in saying, i think what's happening what i think is actually sort of here is they're trying to build a -- i keep saying that the a case. tens of thousands of challenges angst that we see is the death around the country and then you nell of old-fashioned race itch. can say here in ohio we had there may be new forms that 20,000. here in florida 50,000. emerge. is this the way the republicans there's still these moments that feel like the old-fashioned are going to try to win this election, katon? kind. >> i don't think so. now, even during the campaign in there's several things. the graphic artist wasn't very 2008, the new yorker did what good, start with that. that's the first person to fire. was meant to be asa tirr cal did they break any laws is the cover of president obama. then senator obama and his wife first question. were any laws broken on the

michelle obama. it was meant to be satirical and regulations? i don't think so. >> true vote break the laws. make fun of the racial biases >> did they have the right do it, organize. out there. yes. both sides are doing it. man, it hit a lot of block voters in the gut of how dare is this going to be a contested you? i think a lot of what we've seen election. >> both sides aren't doing this. in the years since then continue to make folks feel at that way. >> there's another element to >> yes. one of the oddities about this. they're being poorly trained. you see, one of the contests obama's, president obama's whole first term has been all this that we have to deal with is racial branding. where they were actually going i mean, people have purposefully into one community where and this is something that very somalians, naturalized somalians few black mayors see and very voting and telling them they few black congress people see didn't vote because they didn't where people go after you on the speak proper english and not basis of race. they're clear that that's what knowing that under the voting they're doing. rights act, you got section they're racially branding you, hitler pictures of you, they're 203,s bilingual provisions. talking about congo this and you have to stop that. even their own people are sending back to this. >> it is a -- it's like a big -- embarrassed because they're mistraining purposely i think and telling them that voter i.d. like a racial shoutout. is required like it's not like in wisconsin. there have been problems. -- >> a reverse image. i don't think it's about good regulations, a lot of it is i think that's unusual. that's why we're in partly in where they're being misled so that they will challenge people this difficulty. also, what i worry about on this wrongfully and they will just

cause massive confusion at the election is people saying, hey, polls. i did the right thing once. it's very, very important for voters to not take it. i've done my thin. voters need to be with a stand i'm a good person. their ground during these you'll never be able to -- i did elections. i'm really serious. stand your ground. insist on your right to vote. all i can do. >> it's not a therapy session. a regular ballot. we're here to-elect a president. >> particularly if ohio is going >> that's one of the things i worry about for president obama to throw out the provisional ballot. >> here's the problem i have in the sense of his being with this. the hypocrisy of saying, you're somebody of color trying to be powerful in this position. right, technically is it against because that is a challenge to the law to stand there and all of us. the other thing we saw is that intimidate somebody? not only did the polls show the no. maybe it's -- people are being anti-black prejudice went up, so intimidated by this and they're exercising their rights. what bothers me in this did anti-hispanic prejudiced. conversation is that too often when you have hate running loose, you can't contain it. it knows no boundaries. republicans are so wanting to manipulate the conversation and >> this is one of the things, this notion of anti-muslim bias, err on the side of let's make sure there's no wrongdoing when post 9/11. old-fashioned anti-black biasnd -- you can buy a gun on the >> immigration. >> absolutely. >> regrettably with immigration, internet without an i.d. and then we have to protect the we see that historically when rights of the individual. part of what we saw the economy is bad, who do you

historically, let's rather how we got here. go after? once it became untenable for immigrant. you have to channel that people to see their heads beat negative -- in on television in the '50s and >> the easy target. it all the communities, it's an '60s just trying to vote. then all of a sudden people said easy target. what i've seen now with elected we have to change your tactics. officials is there's a jealousy we're going to talk about towards president obama and his integrity. success. the problem is, it's not a i've seen it in african-americans and the conversation about how you make sure every single american has disappointment and the rhetoric the opportunity to vote and cast and what he promised the their ballot and have that african-american community. ballot counted. >> among black voters though. that's where we should all come together as cornell said. >> don't get me wrong. that shouldn't be partisan. that's the rhetoric i hear that shouldn't be about we'll that's different than 2008. have our vote checkers here and >> because he's black, they know make sure you did this, that or his hands have been tied. there's things that clinton the other. could do that he could do. and prepare our case. it's true insanity that we have people fighting for our country there are things other presidents could do -- in foreign lands and we can't >> i think the notion of black get this right here? it's crazy. >> absolutely. discourse, disappointment with president obama is vastly it feels like it's at the core overstated in the media. of the process. >> and it's in the family. whatever the polls say, right, the conversation in family, not outside the family. you pick up the phone, you >> i promise. eer going to come back to it. answer the poll. but if to go to stand and vote it's starting to warm up in you are facing intimidation that here. stay with us. we're going to stay on this feels to me fundamentally

outside the -- issue. it's beyond the black/white >> strategically, it's not a divide. we'll talk about approximate the path to victory long-term. pressures for a particular racial and ethnic group in this going to beat up the party a election season. little bit. you can't suppress your way to victory long-term here. at some point the republicans have to put their ideals out there and compete for black and brown voters more efficiently. this is not the way to win national elections. our next segment talks about whether there are particular ways to target some of these groups like black and brown voters o p their radio. before we go, i want to say this. we in nerdland sincerely hope that we are not going to need to bring back this week in voter suppression as a segment after the election. but i promise you this, we will stay on the issue and if there are those out there trying to suppress your rights, we will report on it. i want to make a special mention of one of our own nerds. tracy curry has been the producer week in and week out putting together almost every voter suppression segment we have done on this show. tracy has been on top of every aspect of this story.

sometimes producers don't get the credit that they deserve. today is tracy's birthday. feel free, #tracy happy birthday, nerdland. send her some love. she's been doing hard work on this week with voter suppression. up next, we're going to talk about radio. [ male announcer ] do you have the legal protection you need? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to turn for your legal matters. maybe you want to incorporate a business you'd like to start. or protect your family with a will or living trust. legalzoom makes it easy with step-by-step help when completing your personalized document -- or you can even access an attorney to guide you along. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau legalzoom helps you get personalized and affordable legal protection. in most states, a legal plan attorney is available with every personalized document to answer any questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

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welcome back. you are looking at democracy plaza. this is where msnbc and nbc will have our 2012 election coverage. i'm melissa harris-perry. we're back in a conversation about race. the campaigns have been aggressively reaching out to one group in particular. latinos. with one of the fastest growing populations in the states, it's certainly true that the latino vote is crucial. what the campaigns need to realize is that the latino vote does not necessarily equate to one monolithic voting group. vicky, i want to turn to you, the florida numbers are particularly fascinating approximate this. we were looking at a recent poll

from the miami herald that looks at sort of obama and romney [ male announcer ] try new alka-seltzer plus severe allergy customer erin swenson bought so, i'm happy. today. support. sales go up... i'm happy. when you include cuban americans it went out today... i'm happy. in the counting, president obama is leading by a slight margin, what if she's not home? 51%. if, however, you look at it with (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... cuban americans excluded from it, then all of a sudden even reschedule her package. president obama it leading at it's ups my choice. about 65%. are you happy? i'm happy. obviousli i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. obviously, that's an krags i love logistics. indication that you end up with national origin and other issues. >> i think florida is a microcosm for that diversity. in south florida, the miami area, you have a cuban american vote that's very republican. i'm melissa harris-perry. regardless of the generation. then you go into the i-4 this is democracy plaza here in corridor and you see the rockefeller center where the explosion of the puerto rican 2012 election results will come vote. interestingly enough, you have democrats but also a growing in for nbc news. number of independents. there are going to be thousands of folks out there. then if you go even further, you you got to join us. have a smattering of mexican this week, the number of television ads aired in the presidential campaign topped one americans. what is the trend for the future million. there. it's not mexican americans in that's up nearly 40% from 2008.

so far obama for america texas. it's going to be puerto ricans outspent the romney campaign by and cuban americans. more than two to one. that's just on the tv. we've been talking about latinos but there's another airwave being pandered to. raging. and that's the radio airwaves. they're not. there's a lot of hot and heavy radio ads may be particularly wooing going on. influential in the last days of but the reason is because it the 2012 presidential campaign works. we know from research i've done because they have the ability to with colleagues that when you put latino targeted messaging, priek micro target voters at a low cost. that's culturally targeted. for those who haven't turned on the barrage of tv ads, radio can -- even if you don't speak spanish, second, third generation, you like the spanish sometimes captivate the ought language ads because they're relevant and speak to you much jens. >> joining me is joe madison, the republicans and democrats have been doing a good job of known as the black eagle who can using those ads. be heard every weekday morning >> what i'm shocked about, coast to coast on sirius xm though, what i want to turn to katon and where are the republicans on this? on the one hand, you get the spanish language ad but there satellite raid ydiradio. was a time when republicans were >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you for the acclaim. taking a substantial portion of >> joe, i want to play an ad for the latino vote, particularly you, a radio ad for you. under george w. bush and it's as i had this claim that radio is a if you're folding up the tent. >> i mean, it's a problem. little bit freer space. people can say things on radio we call it hispanic foreplay but that they wouldn't necessarily

we're not getting all the way say on television. it's called black men vote. there yet. >> they think he's dumb, lazy rick perry in texas had it and the best food stamp president ever. right. i worked for him during the it's disrespect. it's not right. primary. i saw the numbers inside the and if they think these things primary. to governor perry's credit, he about president obama, can you would not budge. imagine how dumb this president he, lindsey graham, john mccain, and george bush are right, the future of the republican party is? what do they think about you? is reaching out to that group black men time to stand up for and speaking to their issues. ourselves. vote for president obama. that's a large part of this. black men, this entire election we have a chance, but we might come down to ohio. women are already voting in high continue to miss it in our numbers. we need do our part. dialog and hard fought vote for barack obama today. if you don't vote, mitt romney republican primaries because it may win and we will have to hear was an full but governor perry more comments like this. no one's ever asked to see my would not bend. he lost but would not bend on birth certificate. they know that this is the place this issue. it was personal to him in texas. >> this has to become a tipping that we were born and raised. point. not in a partisan way. >> that's not an ofa radio ad. the battleground states aren't but the very fact that that ad growing whiter. and so -- when you look at where is targeting black men, talking the tea party has pulled your specifically about this party to the side like that, you ashialized analysis of the have to think moderates. president. it talks about the women are out there voting.

i think bush really sort of we got to go. going to be a guy who fights the if that were on television, i fight in the republican party. think people would have strong look x you cannot lose -- emotions about it. >> the other bush. on radio, you get your >> yeah. listeners. jeb. >> you can't lose to hispanic -- >> you're absolutely right. again, television is you can't have democrats scoring multidimensional. 70% of the hispanic vote and be people might say, i don't like competitive. the complexion of the men they a state like florida use, look at this or that or the encapsulates the tipping point city. where is that? much america because they're so the one thing about radio that's diverse. if we're winning hispanic voters true and always has been, it is theater of the mind. 55, 70% in florida, florida is a i deliberately sat and listened state that's hard for and concentrated. republicans to win. my mind just immediately, i >> a presidential election will created my own images. i created my images of romney disappear, colorado, mexico, texas, florida, nevada. and my images of black men going we won't have a chance. out and voting and responding to >> it's tough to have -- this. and the other thing is, it's a explain, gentlemen, we have primaries and we better do drumbeat. look, tom joiner, joe madison, something. because we line up with hispanic steve harvey, al sharp ton, you voters. i think we do. we could argue that for hours. name it. the group of us, bev smith. but our values and where we are as a party, but we're in tenuous it's not that we talk every day. it's that we have similar experiences and we really have territory. this election will tell us a lot been the drumbeat. about it. >> i told them had we started. i'm being honest.

i think that black talk radio in we're not even going to get to the beginning of all of this. when we come back, we're going to be on something completely particular has driven this vote early campaign. different. well, maybe not. >> yep. >> because it's been a constant but how many times have you and i'll use the term, a heard someone say if so-and-so wins, i'm moving to canada. constant drumbeat that no matter oh, yeah. we're going to live to our maybe where you turn, that's what in the north to even see whether or not they want us there. you're hearing and that's what's driven this. to the point that the obama administration has used it effectively. you know, it's interesting. you don't find, melissa, you don't hear drug commercials on radio. you know why? >> were? >> because at the end, it's required. you have to tell-all the things that drugs will do to you. so you can't do that on radio. if you have a drug commercial and it says you have asthma you'll die of this and that, it has an entirely different impact. so i think that it has been very effective and the obama

or that printing in color had to cost a fortune. administration has done something that the romney people nobody said an all-in-one had to be bulky. have not done and that is to use radio, particularly black talk or that you had to print from your desk. radio, as a way to make dents at least, nobody said it to us. into our community and next time introducing the business smart inkjet all-in-one series from brother. around the republicans better learn the lesson. easy to use, it's the ultimate combination >> it's interesting what you're saying there. i'm a big radio listener in the morning because i drive my of speed, small size, and low-cost printing. daughter to school and home and i get a fair bit of -- i listen to a lot of local urban radio. there's something about that sense of connection, like with television, i feel like that's some person out there who doesn't know anything about me. when it's your local radio host talking about your street corner and the things going on in your community and then says go out and vote early, that feels like it has sort of a relevance. like your neighbor knocking on your door. >> you're absolutely right. somebody who has a national morning. i'll have to get you a sirius xm radio to listen to. the point is, you're right, you know the person.

you think you know the person. radio is very intimate. it is and always has been. i can't tell you how many people think they know me, think they know that local personality. and you belong to them. >> yeah. >> you belong to them. >> i was going to say, i got to let you gojo. i am personally as a new orleans resident mourning the loss of d.j. chicken and big aid in the morning. it makes me -- i can barely wake up. thank you to joe madison in washington. up next, the single most defining moment of the entire campaign. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain

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universal health care, ♪ subsidized education and justin bieber. what do canadians feel about the [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. empty threats of people drown it out. relocating to canada. introducing the all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. we welcome my friend peter from an entirely new pursuit. toronto. >> good to see you, melissa. you see all the people behind you this morning who have been skating out on democracy plaza. they're just getting ready for the test at the border. >> it will be nice and cold up there. that's right. so peter, you and i actually shared inauguration day together on the cbc. i wanted -- it was interesting to me because it turns out that there is sort of an anti-canada thing occurring right now. i just want to show you quickliment americans for prosperity, which is supporting the romney campaign has an ad out that takes a woman, akah nadian woman and says that we have to be careful not to become canadian.

look at this quickly. >> i started losing my vision. i lost 3/4 of my vision in my right rye and half in my left. mord to see the specialists required, it was four months for one and six months for another. the doctor put down his pen and said your wife will be dead by september. i knew then that the system had but i'm still stubbed up. become far more dangerous for [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? patients than i had ever [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels realiz realized. the american system was there speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms for me when i needed it. plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. it's time for americans to get thanks. engaged in this debate. that's the cold truth! >> peter, felt like a south park episode. running against canada. is there something that we should know about your health care system. >> you should probably know something about her. if she looks familiar to you because they trotted her out in the last campaign as well. at that time forces supporting john mccain. the conservative government in canada has kind of debunked i actually did vote for the

those ads. money before i voted against it. i wouldn't take too much into >> if there was a defining them. the debate over the canadian moment, that was it. health care system an active it was played over and over again by republican president one, it takes place in this george bush to great success country as well. on that particular score, not a lot of credence on that claim. rendering john kerry a >> let me ask you this. flipflopper. there have been a ton of if we decided to come, would you influential moments in the take us? campaign but i want to go to my would canada be excited to have panel and get from each one here an influx of americans? after this long campaign season >> we love americans and americans love us. it's one of those great stories, what do each of you think as a defining moment. those great love affairs that's >> certainly the first debate taken place over centuries, where the president was asleep and romney had an articulate really. the movement of the people back and forth. the president's sister married a argument. he's going to be the next president of the united states. he's going to be. a canadian here in toronto. but that other owe. he's been up here to see them. >> what feif he is -- >> he did what he was told to that was a professional choice do. he has a likability number to be that was made. just like many head down to the careful with. states from here. people like the president, but >> speaking of that, as much as it's the policies the last four we're talking about the possibility of coming up there if one of our candidates doesn't years. we've argued that for weeks win, possibly if an obama abdomen weeks. it was supposed to be at the supporter is an influx of republican national convention. it happened at the debate.

people got to see mitt romney. canadians. a new poll showing canadians are they could envision him as a sort of closely watching this president. found out he was a pretty decent are favoring obama at 66% and guy president both of them are. fewer than 10% of canadians say they favor romney. that's when the tide changed and any chance that you guys are made the race competitive. coming south? >> there's no doubt it was a defining moment. >> listen, there's the love let's hope it defined it and affair for barack obama from everyone moved on. this country, as it is for many >> you're thinking there with me. >> barbara, what was your western countries still exists defining moment? >> after one year of fighting in high numbers. just as it did four years ago. there was a lot of hope and over and over and over trying to get people to focus on voter expectation around the obama suppression as a legitimate problem in this country, it was presidency and it seems like wonderful to see at the dnc, when elected officials and canadiansa as you say between 65 everybody, all the activists and and 70% is very high. delegates talking about voter canadians don't get to vote, suppression for the first time, you know, as a really heavy though. >> that's true. thank you, peter mans bridge in issue and that's when it really toronto. took root. >> no one more effectively than i appreciate you joining me to chat about the possibility. >> all right, melissa. john lewis. let's take a quick listen to it. may have you have that pew teen. >> i've seen this before. i sent some for you. >> bye bye, peter. i lived this before. after the break, we'll bring it too many people struggling, back here to the u.s. and all suffering and dying to make this

the politicians dancing around the polls. possible for every person to ♪ these are... exercise their right to vote. >> it was a pretty powerful moment. >> yes. [ male announcer ] marie callender's puts >> for you, that was the thing everything you've grown to love that -- that's why we have the about sunday dinner into each of her pot pies. lines and that's why people are out there. tender white meat chicken and vegetables >> in 2008, we couldn't get in a crust made from scratch. people to listen. marie callender's. it's time to savor. 2000, 2004, 2008, we kept saying it's a real problem, getting worse and worse, state officials [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived are getting in the game, a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. legislatures, nobody would listen. the real change this election is so i introduced jill that finally people are to crest pro-health for life. acknowledging that there's a selected for people over 50. real reality to voter pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against suppression. and i think it will help us not tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. to -- when i say us shall the conditions people over 50 experience. election protection coalition. crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. it will help us for election crest. life opens up when you do. reform going forward. it will help all of us to stop the bad tactics, to pass new laws that will make it better for people to vote and it also, what i'm really proud of, again, is the american voter. they're going out there and

saying, i won't take it. >> yep. >> it's backfired totally. >> it may be more than a defining moment of the campaign. it may be in the democratic process. >> no doubt about it. >> cornell, your defining moment in. >> it was really the ad that they put out about welfare. sort of the lie that the president was going to gut welfare. >> just in case folks don't remember, let's take a listen to the ad. >> president obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirement. under obama's plan you wouldn't have to work or train for a job. you just get sent your check. welfare goes back to being plain old well pair. >> the problem with this is, look, we've had sort of campaigns sort of be misleading in the past. but the level of this outright lie, i think, in modern politics is unprecedented. understand how diabolical this is. this is a lie meant to empower

and give voice to racial polarization. i mean, it's trying to inject race into the conversation. so you were telling a lie to inject race. to me, that's diabolical. it was sort of a defining moment in the campaign where you really saw to what extent these people will try to wip at any cost. >> karen, what's your defining moment? >> it came long before the campaign started. it was the op-ed, which i know he didn't write the title. >> stil didn't have the right. >> the content was bad. number one, bad ideas, bad policy. totally incon gruns of what was happening at the time. more importantly, it taught us about mitt romney's character throughout this cycle. he's a coward. he tried to take the position -- yes. i'll tell you why. he tried to take a position and say, this is this like tough love. this is what's going to happen. then when he relialized that it

was a liability and wasn't going to get through a primary and general election, to the point he's flat-outlying. the head of two major car companies are saying that the jeep ads running in ohio are flat-out lies. mitt romney is holding a rally to me that said a lot about his in des moines, iowa. character and his craven desire let's take a listenment. to win and it's a narrative. >> governor, appreciate your frankly we've seen it over and over again in this election help. lieutenant governor reynolds, cycle where he's taking one thank you for your help and where he's taken one position senator grassley and congressman and now he's taken another position. and e he won't even have the latham and a shoutout to the des courage to standby the original moines register. and say this is where i was on thanks for your endorsement. it. >> how these moments define him. if mr. romney ends up president, [ applause ] >> i have to admit, i always that debate moment people will trace back to that. like listening to the oak ridge boys. i appreciate their generosity being here this morning. if he loses ohio and through the boy, thanks to you so very much electoral college, that one is likely to be there. it's the supreme court upholding for your energetic welcome. the affordable health care act that's really something. in the 5-4 decision. you know, your voices with being had that it not been upheld, the heard all over the nation this

morning. and they're heard loud and clear president's signature domestic in my heart as well. achievement. that was fun. i want to thank you. we want you to go to our [ cheering and applause ] facebook page or tweet to us what you think were the defining moments of the campaign. up next the most important reason for voting. special thanks to you that have been doing all the work out there for my campaign by making calls from our victory centers, by putting up a sign in your yard or someone else's yard. [ laughter ] by convincing a co-worker to get behind paul ryan and me. now, let's make sure that we get evan we know out to vote on tuesday. got to get that done. >> so that's governor mitt romney campaigning hard with just two days to go. a lot of what we've been covering recently involves the kind of things he's talking about. how to get that math to work in his favor. arithmet arithmetic, math, in the tomorrow of millions spent on ad blitzes in battleground states

and electoral vote prognostications and most of all, polls. we have a new national nbc news wall street journal poll released just this morning, the final one of the election season showing president obama and republican mitt romney running about as tight as two candidates can. the president has 48% of likely voters in his camp, governor romney, 47% of the the margin of error is just over 2.5%. yeah, it's close. as we break it down by state, the nbc news wall street journal poll showed that the president and governor romney separated by only two points in florida, also within the marchin of error. not so much in ohio where the president maintained the six-point lead over governor romney. if you take the averages, president obama is up in enough swing states to keep him in the white house. states including ohio, iowa and wisconsin. the last three states that he will visit this campaign. governor romney is up per the real clear politics average in florida, north carolina and

virginia by a hair. given that he's trailing the president in key states like ohio and wisconsin, what on earth is romney doing expanding the map into states like michigan? minnesota and pennsylvania in the last week? states he had all but written off. joining me to break that down and whether or not it means what we think it means, we have cornell belcher, barbara and katon dawson. karnell, you're the pollster. what do the polls tell you? >> let me first say this. there's too much polling going on. there's too much attention paid to polling. polls are driving a narrative in a way they should not. >> right. >> the polls should be a part of the narrative but not the driving force in the conversation. >> polls become indodge news. they say they're leading and -- >> the narrative forms around a poll. i'm going to beat up on the media here for their stories out there.

go out there and talk to voters. it's lazy, we do a poland talk about the poll. talk to the voters and let their narrative drive the story. that said, a lot of people don't understand, there's a science to polling. but there's also an art to polling. you can have a science right but if you've got the art wrong, your poll is going to be way off. take for example going into '08. likely voters, a lot of the early polling was completely off especially in the primaries. i appreciate that social you know what, a lot of the media allows us to be part of people who came out to vote. communities even when we don't >> first timers. meet face to face. >> they were not likely voters. one was on twitter in recent you had something historical weeks. with a woman and #whyivote. people are showing up to show african-american. you were going to drive groups. their motives. >> that's the art of polling. here are some of my favorites. >> we talked about this in the break. you were saying there's an art to voting. karen writes, i vote because in this case, cornell's point there's an art to -- when the people are still willing to risk everything to be an american. first african-american is at the charley tweets, i vote to spite top of the ticket. there's an art to polling latino voters. an art that may not be going well. >> art and science. #gop efforts to keep people like there tends to be a lot of flaws

in latino polling. me from the polls. it tends to bias towards higher dawn writes, because too many socioeconomic status latinos. two reasons. people -- and kathleen says i vote so my children will learn latinos seem to be overwhelming users of cell phones. the ones that don't use a mix of that every person has a voice land lines and cell phones, miss and that voice matters. latinos who frankly are poorer. second is a lot of polling that looks at latinos uses just and i cracked up to read dj's monday lingual english speakers. writing that he writes because i. only look illegal. if you say hola, they say we're that's #whyivote. going to call you back. then you get a spanish speaking peter, because it's supposed to be a government of the people, interview. what you really need is the mix by the people, for the people. of land line and cell phone. which got me to thinking about you need bilingual callers so we the people and the reason i you have a more accurate sample of all latinos, rich and poor, vote. i vote because it took so long for many of us to be included in spanish speaking and nonspanish speaking. >> why they don't do it because it costs more. we the people. those who harvested the crops >> there's one thing. on this question of expanding for no compensation. the map, i want to go to you we the people who endured the katon on this. listen to rick bee son from the romney campaign on fox news horror of redemption after reconstruction and carried the weight of jim crowe. talking about expanding the map. we the people who swung from

>> four years ago this weekend, southern trees and stood on the president obama was campaigning front line of foreign wars. we the people who taught our in indiana. today governor romney is children to read even when the schools had no books. campaigning in pennsylvania. i don't think campaigning in we the people who worshipped a god of liberation even as we states where we haven't won since 1988, 1984 and 1972 are suffered oppression. we the people who gave america back its highest ideals with our acts of desperation. it looks like the map is nonviolent struggles against injustice. we the people are americans and expanding drastically in our we prove it by voting. favor. >> this is a head fake. right? there aren't polls we don't know about. >> rich is a friend of mine and that's #whyivote. good operative. president obama taught us that's our show for today. something. i mean, he went into places he thank you to karen finney and wasn't supposed to win. he wasn't supposed to win north katien dawson. i'll see you next saturday at carolina or virginia. you remember that closed late move. north carolina was a 14,000-vote 10:00 eastern. before that, i'm going to chicago. win. we have the money and the see you there on msnbc on election evening. all part of the night-long msnbc resources. we have energy. and no fault of our own, we've got a governor in pennsylvania, 2012 election coverage. i will be reporting from obama a governor in new jersey, a governor in virginia, i mean we headquarters. be sure to watch tuesday night won big in the 2010 change and wednesday morning. election. coming up, "weekend with alex why not see what we can do. witt."

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you're looking at democracy plaza. this is where nbc and msnbc are hosting our election 2012 coverage. now, we've been talking about polls. but i want to shift now to probability. probability is based on polls but utilizes a particular etiology. the man getting -- nate silver

of the 538 blog. as of this morning, silver methodology gives president obama an 85.1% chance of receiving the majority of the electoral college votes on tuesday. and winning another term in office. mitt romney has just a 14.9% chance according to silver. those numbers are generating a lot of controversy and part of the issue is trying to understand what silver means when he talks about probability. so cornell x you said we got it talk to the people. i'm thinking yeah, but he seems to do well predicting based on the way that he manages the poll numbers. >> the thing about polling. if you look at the polls from '08, most of the polls were within three points of the race. we've actually gotten really good at polling. the other big thing this happened over the years, is that the wilder effect or the bradley effect if you will, we've seen that sort of disappear in a way that makes polling awfully accurate right now. if you have the art of it right

and the model is right, i think polling is spot on. >> explain for folks who don't know the bradley or wilder effect, because maybe they were asleep. bradley effect is when african-americans run receive about 3 percentage points lower than what they're polling. pollsters are saying sure, i'll vote for him. that didn't happen with president obama. even in the south he got a higher percentage than what some of the polls said. >> be more honest the pollsters. i thank you for that. >> when i see a nate silver poll but prediction, setting the probabilities at 85%, right, and then there's all of this sort of discourse in the public sector saying he's just an obamaite, he's driving the conversation. we're political scientists. probabilities are about how likely or unlikely an occurrence is. if president obama loses it

doesn't mean he's wrong. >> it's like vegas. it's gambling. he's saying, there is a chance that he may lose but just looking at the odds and looking at historical trends too, not just picking a moment in time and looking at it. he's aggregating data, look ago the all polls, not just the polls but our polls, this is what he's coming up with. he could be wrong. >> sure. >> but he has time and numbers on his side. >> there is something powerful approximate that. on the other hand, the other numbers to me that keep feel like something we need to take into account are the early voting lines. >> yes. >> when i see folks standing in line for hours and hour, i say there is something going on here that may not be captured by polling. >> listen, ee were getting reports last night, in fact, i should say this morning as late as 1:00 a.m. of people still in line in florida voting. i mean -- when i was standing in line, i stood in line 3:45 and people in maryland were saying i'm here to show those pollst s

pollsters. i'm going to show them they're wrong. we're going to be out here voting. the other thing the polls are really wrong on so far, they're missing new registrants, missing the turnout among sporadic voters. all of these factors are securing skewing in a certain way differently than what they thought. there's a lot of things wrong with the polling. but i think it's important to see how much -- today is soul to the polls. >> right. >> if people are serious, they're ready. they're gearing up, they're bringing their church shoes and their line shoes. there's a lot going on. people are really into this. i think -- i'm mad at the polls that are saying that the turnout from minority voters is going to be very low or lower. what's wrong with them? >> not all the polls. >> i'm not mad at all the polls. i do want to make sure they're being inclusive. people of color right now are

26% of the american electorate. that's no longer a minor number. >> right. >> it's going to change, it's going to continue to increase and keep changing the landscape of the american political world. >> and it's a thing that, part of the art that's not quite picked up. thank you to victoria defran chess coe soto. the rest are back for me. this is this week in voter suppression. this week we're naming names. [ metal rattling ] ♪ hello? boo! i am the ghost of meals past. when you don't use new pam, this is what you get. residue? i prefer food-based phantasm, food-tasm. poultry-geist works too if you used chicken. [ laughs ] resi-doodle-doo. [ female announcer ] bargain brand cooking spray can leave annoying residue.

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welcome back. i'm melissa harris-perry coming to you this morning from democracy plaza in rockefeller plaza. home of nbc's decision 2012 coverage. thousands will gather here on election night watching the results come in. the iconic skating rink will hold a map of the united states

with states icing over in red or blue as the race is called by the nbc desk. red and blue banners representing electoral votes will rise up in front of the building as each campaign climbs to 70. nerdland, all good things must come to an end. it is our last show before election day which means it's the last time i get to break out my graphic for this week in voter suppression. okay. our weekly voter suppression updates may be going away for now. but we are going out with a bang. and hold on o your ballot card folks. this is a doozy. we're naming names today. remember the anonymous private family found dags responsible for buying these billboards in african-american neighborhoods in ohio and wisconsin? well, thanks to a joint investigation between nerdland vip joy reid, the managing editor of the gri owe.com and advocacy organization, one wisconsin now, that anonymous buyer is anonymous no more. ever heard of the einhorn family

foundation? we hadn't either. that is until joy and one wisconsin now scott ross found out that einhorn, a wisconsin-based nonprofit, are responsible for the more than 85 billboards that went up in the milwaukee area. the foundation has since confirmed that it paid for the billboard and get this, einhorn paid for similar billboards that appeared in milwaukee in 2010. now, this is where it gets really interesting. when you dig deeper into the money behind the money, the investigation revealed that einhorn got the money from another foundation, called the bradley foundation. you probably haven't heard of them either. these sugar daddies spent almost $500 million, even more than the much reviled coke brothers to prop up the right wing. it's one of the largest sources of conservative money. you are most certainly familiar with the names connected to the bradley foundation. wisconsin governor scott walker,

republican national committee rients priebus and a name you'll be seeing on your ballots on tuesday, republican vice presidential nominee, paul ryan. according to one wisconsin now, all of those men contribute political prominence at least in part to this man, a conservative king maker of sorts in wisconsin. he's also the president and ceo of the bradley foundation. it is a tangled web connecting voter suppression, dark money and the highest levels of the republican political power establishment. joining me now from madison, wisconsin, to help us sort it all out one of the people who connected all those dots. one wisconsin now's scott ross. nice to see you, scott. >> hello, melissa, how are you this morning in. >> i'm great. tell me, scott, i tried to lay it out there a little bit. tell me, who is einhorn and who is the bradley foundation? >> well, einhorn is just a local family foundation run by a hedge fund manager out of milwaukee,

wisconsin. the bradley foundation, i mean, they're the granddaddies of them all as they say. bradley has financed close to half a billion dollars since 2000 in terms of funding the right wing infrastructure, the junk science. they've now got into funding organizations that are trying to repress the right to vote. it is massive. as you've said, the guy behind it, michael grieve i, a king maker. he's connected to scott walker as his campaign co-chair. he's connected to paul ryan, who paul ryan called mike grievey, his political godfather and reince priebus, when he was fighting to be the rnc chair saying this is my guy. >> scot, you want the simplest

explanation for everything. when you look at this map, if you were to put this king maker, grievey at the center of a map and play that map out, the money badger map, it is pretty extraordinary in terms of the connections. they are not just sort of casual connections, i saw a picture with them or they were at a dinner party together. what we're seeing is the bradley foundation and michael grieve yrk as a real sort of force behind this. is that correct? >> without a doubt. now that they've moved into again funding these organizations designed to suppress the vote, we like to think that our investigation delivered a roundhouse to the white sheets of voter suppression and knocked off that cowardly veil of anonymity. people need to know this is going on. what i think is great is that because people have been mobilized about what is going on with voter suppression, we believe that the polls are going to be -- the polls will be open and our elections fair,

transparent and clean and that the people are ready to make sure this doesn't happen at the polling places so people can ebbser sies that sacred right to vote. >> i think folks who put up these billboards would say they're trying to make the process fair and transparent. they're saying they're public education billboards. >> absolutely not. they provide no information about voting whatsoever. they're simply designed to try and make people confused about the polling process, to intimidate them about their status. and what we found is, you know, it's that sort of confusion that can lead people to decide not to vote. and so their billboard campaign, previously anonymous campaign was designed again to cause that confusion and that intimidation to keep them from exercising the franchise. >> scott, i want to bring in barbara arn wooin, her work has been fundamentally around these issues of voter suppression.

does it make a difference barbara when you have the mapping, when you can know who the names and foundations are or does it make little difference to you in. >> it makes a lot of difference. because remember, what these billboards did was that they stigmatized these african-american and latino communities by implying that they were the source of voter fraud when there was no evidence of voter fraud at all. voter impersonation and other fraud. it created contusion. people thought am i going to be arrested if i go to the wrong precinct. which can happen all the time. >> people with saying what if i'm an ex-felon. does that mean felony. i mean it caused so much confusion. so i think what's important for us, we know it's einhorn, we also know he is a big funder of the tea party. the freedom works. we know then it makes us realize how much money -- if they're funneling money like this into billboards, what do you think it

will look like for the poll vigilantes who will be at the polls contesting and challenging voters. it makes us realize how we have heightened our anti-voter suppression efforts. if you hold for me one moment. president obama is on stage at a campaign rally in concord, new hampshi hampshire. he's campaign with former president bill clinton. let's listen for a moment. >> i'm on the phone with fema directors, the governors and the mayors and making sure that we're doing everything we canment i think i speak for the entire country when i say we will not stop until those folks whose lives have been upended that their lives will be rebuilt. we'll be with them every step of the way. i don't speak just as the president. i speak for every single american. we're going to help them rebuild. [ applause ] we will help them rebuild. that's what we do as americans. and that's the interesting

thing. despite the heartbreak. we've also been inspired these past few days. we see our first responders, our police officers, firefighters, ems folks running into building, wading through water, helping their fellow citizens. we see neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy. leaders of different parties working to fix what's broken. a spirit that says, no matter how bad a storm is, no matter how tough the times are, we're all in this together. we rise or fall as one nation and as one people. that spirit, new hampshire has guided this country along its